Solar power at night already a reality with Coast company

Bill HoffmanWhether taking on developers hell-bent on destroying the Coast’s natural appeal or a Prime Minister indifferent to the plight of the poor, Bill Hoffman has never been one to mince his words. Bill’s been a journalist for 32 years, 29 of those on the Coast. Love him or hate him, he'll get you blogging.

A SUNSHINE Coast company with 24 employees is already delivering to clients across Australia the grid control and independence being promised as the future of energy by US company Tesla.

Elon Musk, the creator of the Tesla electric car, announced this week a new generation of home energy systems supported by lithium ion batteries that store solar power for later use.

The announcement was hailed globally as the breakthrough needed to deliver full renewable energy independence to the family home.

State sales manager for Giant Power, Peter West, left, with Buddina homeowner Don Scobie and his new off-grid hybrid power system with battery back-up. Brett Wortman

Warana-based Aussie Batteries and Solar, however, claims to have the future already in hand using existing technology that delivers true uninterrupted power supply regardless of whether or not the grid is down.

The off-grid and power storage company provides battery and solar storage solutions for night use for everyone.

The systems are distributed on the Sunshine Coast through Halcol Energy.

Michael Berris said new low feed-in tariff rates were also starting to make home owners question the value of returning power to the grid for as little as eight or six cents an hour only to then have to pay 18 cents plus with GST on Tariff 33 for the electricity they use to run things like pool pumps and hot water systems.

"Some people are literally buying their own power back at a premium," he said.

The Aussie Batteries and Solar system uses tubular gel lead-acid batteries in a slimline box measuring 40cm deep by 140cm wide and 180cm high that can fit in a garage.

Some customers with existing solar on a feed-in tariff of 44 cents or up to 52 cents with AGL are taking all essential power circuits off grid on to a new battery-supported system.

That leaves their fridges, lights, ovens and other key appliances black-out resilient and frees up the existing system to feed back all 14 kilowatt hours of electricity it produces a day back into the grid.

Retired soldier Don Scobie of Buddina yesterday installed a battery system that will deliver him 6kW/h of usable power a day.